The Tale of a Sorceress and Friends
by RuneVenus1
Summary: Act II begins! New chapter uploaded Nov. 30!
1. The Beginning

That last volley nearly killed her.  She felt the heat of the fireball roaring past her head just as she swooped in to take the final hit on the Fallen Shaman.  This horde of them had been the biggest yet and contained several shamans, even one that resurrected the other shamans as they died.  And every time she killed a Fallen, he'd just pop right back up to life again.  She couldn't kill them all fast enough to keep them from regenerating.

As usual the Paladin, Martenus, had done his damage by killing the unique shaman and kept on running to find the next big monster to challenge his skills, leaving the others to clean up the stragglers.

Then there was her other partner, the Necromancer, Thane, and he just left his undead minions to help kill off the remaining Fallen.  He himself was off to collect the loot they were hording and to raise more minions from their broken bodies.  Moron didn't care that his minions would be killing them forever with a shaman still alive to endlessly resurrect them.

Well, the drones could finish them off finally now.  She needed to rest.  She dropped down onto a nearby rock and took a healing potion out of her sash and chugged it back, grimacing.  Rancid stuff.  She didn't have a mana potion left, and her powers were almost completely drained.  Better to let the others do the fighting for a while as her powers naturally restored themselves.

Again she kicked herself for being a fool.  What had she been thinking, joining these two on their quest to stop The Three Brothers.  She should have just ignored the calling from her dreams and stayed safe at home with her coven.  Her Sisters warned her that she wasn't ready, she still had too much to learn, but that didn't stop the dreams from driving her out of her bed one night and into the wilderness to find these two warriors exactly where she had been shown.  Experience would now be her teacher.  If she lived that long.

She could hear the sounds of a distant battle and knew it would be Martenus.  The man was driven by his quest to save the world.  In his mind he was a hero's hero.  But he was raw and his skills needed much honing before he could ever be a knight.  He was also headstrong and stupid, rushing from battle to battle in order to prove his worth.  He clearly had never worked in a team before or he never would rush on ahead and leave the weaker members to fend for themselves.

Weaker.  _Yah, I guess that's what I am.  I'm just a little girl playing with the men, and I can't keep up.___

Thane finished his pillaging of the horde's camp and started racing off on his own in a different direction from Martenus, not even a backwards glance to see if she or his minions were coming.

She probably had a better chance of getting out of this field alive if she stuck with Martenus.  He was at least gallant whenever she was around and would keep any monsters from getting close, but she'd blink and he'd be distracted trying to kill a bigger one, leaving her to fight for herself again.  She almost died the last time he did that, having been overrun by dark lancers while he went off chasing a pack of brutes.  Fortunately for her the Necromancer had shown up just at that moment with his crew.

She didn't want to linger here long by herself.  Trouble had a way of finding her.  Sure enough, just as she stood up, another dark lancer came charging at her.  One alone was easy enough to dispatch.  A Fire Bolt for the initial damage, followed by a couple of solid hits with her poison imbued club.

_I've really got to find a better way to do this than keep hitting them with a stick.  Damn Martenus and Thane keep grabbing up all the good weapons and armour before I can even get there._

Speaking of whom, she couldn't hear or see signs of either of them.

_Great.  They really have forgotten about me._

She started running in the direction she had last heard Martenus, hoping to be able to follow a trail of corpses up to him.  She ran for several minutes, and sure enough, there was his trail of destruction.  She could just see him ahead as he beheaded a dark archer, and then he was running off on her again.  But her stamina was drained, and she had no potion to cure that either.

She sat down on the cold grass and waited for her strength to return.  She was so tired and she had only one minor health potion left.  She was going to have to be very careful.  Her mana, at least, was almost fully regained, and she could feel it welling up inside her, waiting to be unleashed.  She was so close to figuring out a spell for a cold shield, and then she'd have a little extra protection aside from her ability to run.

Stupid Thane just running away on her.  The man had a way of getting under her skin.

She always knew where she stood with Martenus.  He was straightforward and honest, and he would always be a gentleman to a lady.  The fact that he was handsome and carried himself with dignity added to his charms, which were immediately negated when he became battle blind.

But Thane, there was always a hidden agenda with him.  Everything he said or did had a reason and a motive.  She hated being alone with him when they weren't fighting something.  Every look and every phrase had a thousand meanings, and she had no idea what even one of them could be.  Well, that is when he even acknowledged her presence at all.

She had no idea why he was on this quest.  He didn't say and she didn't dare ask.  He and Martenus seemed to get along all right, but then Martenus tried his best to get along with everyone they ran across.  But both of them put a wall up when it came to her, and each day became lonelier even though she was often not alone.

And the dreams, her nights were haunted by the monsters and carnage she faced every day.  Every morning she awoke more tired than the last, and it was taking its toll on her.  She wasn't going to be able to go on like this, not without help, and help wasn't forthcoming.

She was brought out of her reverie by the shuffling of many inhuman feet.  She jumped up, club at the ready, to find that it was only Thane' minions passing nearby.  He surprised her by sneaking up to her side.

"Meize, it's not safe here by yourself."

"I had no choice."  She was in no mood to point out that it was _he_ that left her alone.  He just wouldn't get it anyway.

"You are tired.  I will take you back to camp."

"Are we finished here?"

"There may only be one or two Fallen still cowering.  Martenus will dispose of them."  Thane opened a portal to the Rogue Encampment and waited for her to enter before following himself.

Meize went straight away to see Akara, who always blessed those who saw her with renewed health and strength.  She had hoped Akara would have a new staff she could buy that would make her battles easier, but they were all so expensive, and her stash was nearly empty.  It would be a long time before she collected enough gold and treasure to be able to buy one.

Depressed, Meize retired to their tent and unrolled her blankets.  She pulled out the little bit of bread she had saved from breakfast, too weary of mind and body to be able to eat anything more.  Thane and Martenus soon retired to the fire outside carrying steaming bowls of stew they had gotten from the Rogue's kitchen tent.  The smell of the food turned her stomach, and she couldn't even finish the stale bread in her hand.  She knew she should be at the fire with them, going over the day's events and planning for tomorrow, but she no longer cared about anything and simply crawled into her blankets to sleep.


	2. Dreams

Her cries in the night woke both men.  She had awoken them almost every night, restless in the grips of her dreams.  They saw how she awoke each morning more tired than the last.   They were all tired.

Martenus's dreams had also been haunted by the carnage they faced day in and day out.  He wasn't entirely sure how the necromancer was taking it, after all, the man's entire life revolved around death.  But Martenus had noticed that Thane didn't jump headlong into the fray along side his minions anymore, he just controlled them from a short distance away, only fighting himself when under personal attack.  He was lucky he could let others fight for him, Martenus and Meize didn't have that option.  They had to fight.

The poor girl was so under prepared when she first arrived.  She had no armor and only an old staff as her weapon.  And her magic, though strong, was not of any use in battle.  She knew only one offensive spell, Firebolt, but it was better for lighting the campfire than killing demons.  She had to fire it many times to make a kill, and thus she depleted her mana reserves quickly.

But, he could proudly admit, she was quick and she was clever.  By the end of their first day cleaning out The Blood Moore beside the rogue encampment, she had already figured out how to replenish her mana more quickly, as well as how to increase the strength of her Firebolt.  They had also convinced her after another day of fighting that she would be better off carrying a club and shield instead of her staff.  It didn't take much to convince her, she was finding more and more often that she couldn't kill her opponents with her spells before they reached her, and her staff was of little use at that point.

But it was after she became more efficient at killing that her dreams appeared to get worse.  She didn't have a heart for killing, even if it was monsters.  And killing the dark rogues plagued her the most.  Martenus hadn't liked it at first either; these were once the beloved sisters of those he now helped.  But when he saw their tortured souls released as their unholy bodies died, he vowed to himself that every one of them would be freed.  So he slay them with purpose and conviction.  But to her these were flesh and blood women, she had said so much the night they killed Cold Crow, and if they weren't so intent on killing her she could never bring herself to kill them.

The next day they'd forced their way into the graveyard and faced Blood Raven and her horde.  She'd killed the dark rogues more easily since then.

But what was so terrible as to make her cry out in her dreams.  She thrashed, some times murmured or muttered, but never cried out in fright.  If she knew how her sleep betrayed her, she would be embarrassed.  She tried so hard to be brave and strong, and she tried so hard to prove she was just as useful as the men she fought beside.  But her tears as she slept gave it all away.

And his heart went out to her.

He would protect her.

Sure as spit that fool Thane wouldn't.  He'd left her with Thane occasionally when he needed to pursue his opponent.  Every time he turned to rejoin them he'd find her struggling to hold her own, and Thane and his minions were nowhere to be seen.

She had hired a couple of Kashya's archers to assist her, hoping they'd pick off the demons before they could get close enough to hit her while she was busy fighting others.  Problem was the silly girls didn't last long enough to be of any help.  It wasn't Kashya's fault, she had so few warriors left, and for the most part they were young and inexperienced.  Though they had grown up with bows in their hands, they had seen little battle, and certainly not the kind of battle that was too much even for their older sisters.  From a distance their arrows could inflict a decent amount of damage, but once the vermin started swarming they didn't have a hope.  So, they quit hiring them.  Lord knows these people had suffered enough from death already; they didn't need these newcomers to waltz in and lead all their remaining youngsters to their dooms.

And so she continued to battle on by herself.  And he helped her as best he could.

She cried out again in her sleep.  Martenus pulled himself up out of his blankets and crawled over to her to wake her.  Just as he was about to touch her, she suddenly cast her Frozen Armor spell.  A chill ran down his spine and raised the hair on his arms as the temperature instantly dropped around him.  He thought to wait for the spell to dissipate, then try to wake her again, but she visibly relaxed immediately after casting the spell, so he left her to return to his own bed.  He was going to be tired in the morning.

Maybe it would be better if they could convince the girl to stay in camp with the rogues.  Then no one would have to worry about keeping an eye on her on the battlefield, but she could also still be here supporting them from the sidelines, meeting them at the waypoints with supplies…  No.  She was led here by her visions.  She deserved the right to fight too.  But how could he protect her without compromising his own safety?

A rustling movement on the other side of the tent told him Thane was awake and adjusting his own blankets against the spell's chill. 

He and Thane needed to talk about it.  Without question the necromancer would say she should have stayed home, let her worry about herself.  But just maybe he could make the man a little more aware.

He forced his mind back to calm; he needed to sleep again.  It was going to be another long day ahead.  He'd found the Tree of Inifuss and the way to besieged Tristram.

------------------

She was so tired.  She'd had an awful dream that she was back in the underground passage to the Dark Wood again, but this time she was completely alone.  Everywhere she turned a monster leered out of the darkness just beyond her mage light.  She ran through the twisting maze of tunnels, calling to Martenus and Thane.  No one answered her but her own echo.  She had come around a corner into a well-lit cavern, and Blood Raven was waiting for her there.

"You _will_ join my army."  The demon growled.

Meize had barely time to absorb what was happening before her breast was pierced by three arrows.  She stumbled back against the cavern wall and slowly slid to the ground in shock.  With the last of her strength she threw up her shield, hoping desperately to survive until Martenus or Thane came.  The shield caught Blood Raven just as she reached out for Meize's throat, causing her to freeze then shatter into a million pieces.

That dream had ended there, but there were others waiting to take its place, though none were quite so disturbing and she had forgotten most of them by morning.

Martenus and Thane were already up and out of the tent, leaving her time to linger in private.  Her stomach rumbled, having not eaten since yesterday's breakfast, as the smell of freshly baked bread wafted through the camp.

She hurriedly dressed and joined the men by the fire with her own plate of food.  Martenus smiled at her warmly and patted the ground beside him.

Thane just ignored her.

"Come, sit."  Martenus encouraged her.  "We need to go over our plans for today with you."

"I'm sorry I couldn't go over them with you last night.  I just had to sleep."

"Completely understandable, though you don't look like you slept well."

"I had a bad dream," and she went on to tell Martenus about her encounter with Blood Raven.

He sympathetically patted her on the knee when she had finished.  "That explains why suddenly you cast your shield in your sleep."

"I did?  I'm so sorry I woke you!"  She was appalled, and a little confused.  She didn't think it was possible to cast in her sleep.  There was no precedence in her schooling.

"Do not worry about it for a single moment.  But let us discuss today..."

They returned to the Stony Field via the ancient waypoint.  Again they had to clean out areas that had already been done the previous day before they could move forward in their quest.  They quickly worked their way back to the ring of Cairn Stones.  Martenus pulled out a scroll from his belt and proceeded to touch each stone in a special order.  When he touched the final stone they came wildly alive with magical energy, until it finally focused and formed a single portal.

Tristram.

They stepped through the portal and into the outskirts of town.  Where there should have been livestock grazing, there was only ash.  The nearest buildings were charred ruins, still inhabited by the fire-loving shamans and their spawn.  Suddenly they were besieged by skeletons and zombies, and they fought their way slowly forward into the heart of Tristram.

There, in the town square, was the object of their quest.  The man, Deckard Cain, was hanging in a cage.  Martenus rushed over to let it down, but was interrupted by the largest man Meize had ever seen.

"Griswold."  Thane whispered in her ear before he directed his minions to assist the Paladin in bringing down the possessed smith.  He then went and joined in the fight himself.  Unable to assist and get in a clear shot with her Fire Ball, Meize left the fighting to them while she freed Deckard Cain.  He was very weak and very sick, and he desperately needed Akara's healing touch.  She opened a portal for him and sent him on ahead to the rogue encampment.  When he was safely through, she closed the portal and joined the others in their purge of Tristram.

It was their toughest battle yet.  The being Griswold would just not fall.  He seemed to just absorb the attacks of Martenus's sword, and Thane and his gang had their hands full keeping the other monsters at bay.  One of the skeletons got in close to Griswold, but with a single swipe of his meaty hand it flew across the square to land in a clattering mess at Thane' feet.

Helping as best she could by sending in volley after volley of fire at Griswold, slowly, so very slowly, wounds began to show on his cursed flesh.  Martenus continued his assault with renewed vigor, and eventually the man-beast went down with a mighty crash.

It was a hard fought battle well won.

They were greeted with jubilation when they returned to the camp that evening.  For once the focus of the outcome of their quest was life, not death, and it was as good a reason as any to celebrate.  They were warmly thanked by both Akara and Deckard Cain, and then enjoined to revel with the rest of the rogues.  Martenus surprised Meize when he grabbed her about the waist and swung her around in the air, laughing.  He put her back down, hugged her, grabbed a tankard from a waiting rogue, and joined Gheed at the central fire in a bawdy old drinking song.

Meize and Thane took the tankards they were offered and went their separate ways into the partygoers.


	3. Reconciliation

It was a quiet camp they left the next morning, unfortunately their work still had to be done.  The rain that had fallen before dawn was heavy on the ground, and only added to the muck and misery of the Black Marsh.  It had been a long run from the waypoint in the Dark Wood, and they spent several hours more fighting their way through the marshland.

As was inevitable, they all ended up fighting off on their own.  Martenus went chasing down a group of goatmen, Thane and his crew were looting a camp of carvers, and Meize found herself running from a couple of very angry brutes.

She tried to work her way around to Martenus, but she kept coming up against a wall or other substantial obstacle.  Every time she stopped to take a shot at them, they got too close.  One got in a good hit that sent her reeling.  They were on top of her before she could get her senses back, and she fired everything she had at them.

Their bodies collapsed on top of her.

-----------------------

"For love of the Goddess, Necromancer, stop!"  She cried in desperation.

Thane stopped dead in his tracks, blinking, uncertain where the disembodied voice had come from.

"Don't just stand there!  Help me!"

He looked around, trying to find her, and when he finally did, he couldn't help but laugh heartily.  There she was, lying face down in the middle of a huge puddle of mud, pinned beneath the bulk of a dead brute.  Her usually cool, calm, I'm-just-as-good-as-you composure was replaced by that of a petulant, muddy, little girl.  She tired again to pull herself out from under the corpse, but her hands couldn't find any purchase in the slick muck.

"What the hell are you laughing at?  I'm going to drown in this puddle.  Help me!"

Still chuckling, he carefully made his way over to her.  He grabbed her by her wrists and pulled her gently out from under the beast.  But just as he got her to her feet, he slipped himself and landed wetly on his backside, pulling her back down on top of him.

She froze, uncertain of his anger, and consciously aware of her proximity to the man.  But he surprised her and in a completely uncharacteristic turn of events, flipped her over with a playful growl and pinned her beneath him.

"If I have to run around all day now with soggy breaches, so do you."  He teased.  "Is this what I get for helping a lady in distress?"

She couldn't help it as a giggle escaped her.  "Get off, you fool!"

"Indeed, I have been a fool."

Before she could question him on his last comment, Martenus came around the corner and caught them in their compromising, mud-soaked position.

The man's mouth opened and closed several times, as he was clearly at a loss of words.

"Oh, just get over here and help get this oaf off of me."  Meize sighed.

Her insolence was rewarded with Thane rolling her over onto her front in the mud and sitting down on her backside.

"Martenus!"  She cried out in laughter.

The paladin carefully stepped into the muck, and no sooner did Thane mutter, "don't slip," than he pitched face first into it.  Thane, still sitting on his wiggling perch, started lobbing mudballs at Martenus's exposed back.  The man looked up just in time to catch the next ball in the forehead.  With a roar, Martenus dove at Thane and drove him off Meize and down into the mud.  Copious amounts of goop than began to rain through the air, until Thane finally grabbed Meize as a human shield.  Martenus paused only the moment it took him to grab his buckler, scoop it full of dirty water, and hurl the contents at both of them.

And so the game continued until all three lay collapsed together in the mud, their energies entirely spent.

"How do we explain ourselves to Akara?"  Meize tentatively asked.

"We don't."  Was all Thane replied.

And they didn't.  Despite the stares of curiosity and disgust, they simply marched through the camp.  Meize was hard pressed not to laugh when Akara bent over and kindly asked if they'd had a hard day.  "You could say that," was all she allowed herself to reply.

As she had lost her club and shield under the brutes, Martenus and Thane helped her buy a new staff.  It was of excellent weight and balance, and it felt so good to have one in her hands again.

After a hot bath and a hot meal the rain began to fall again, so Meize joined the other two in their tent to go over battle plans for the next day.  It was a short discussion as exhaustion overtook all three of them.  They spread out their blankets and slept.


	4. A New Beginning

She awoke the next morning feeling better than she had since before she'd started having her visions at home.  For the first time in weeks, she'd had no dreams.  She was at peace with herself, and she was at peace with her teammates.  And that's what they finally were, a team.  They had made a pact with one another that night to work together and to never range out of each other's sight.

Cain caught them at breakfast.  He had been up all night trying to remember something about the Black Marsh.  He met with Akara and they went over her books, finally discovering the tale of The Countess in her forgotten tower.  Cleaning out this tower was now their priority.

They returned to the marshes and searched the entire morning until the fog finally cleared and the ruined stone walls appeared in the distance.

There was nothing left of the tower above ground but the ruined walls.  An ancient ladder reached down into the old cellars.  They descended down into the level below.

They immediately climbed down a second ladder into the lower levels, and unfortunately these halls were clearly not uninhabited.  The soft groans and shuffling of reanimated dead could be heard echoing to where they stood.

The floors and walls were slick with decay, and the smell of it was almost unbearable.  The air clearly didn't circulate down here, and there was very little oxygen left in it, making it almost impossible to breathe.  So they ended up inhaling more deeply of the putrid, thin air than they'd like.

They stepped through the doorway out into the hall.  There was no actual door left anymore, the timbers having completely rotted away long ago.  This was a good thing, as it allowed them the opportunity to sneak through quietly.  Uncertain what to look for, they just started following the maze of open doorways.

Torches flickered here and there, reflecting dimly off the rows and rows of bleach-white skeletons lining the walls in their final resting places.

"A necromancer's dream?"  Asked Martenus when Thane had stopped to gawk.

The man simply gave a sly smile in response as he lightly caressed the top of a stone crypt.

They encountered a little resistance as they moved through the passages, but nothing they couldn't dispatch easily.  They were amazed how well their powers worked together when they were forced to fight in the small confines of the cellar.  Martenus had cast his Thorns aura, and as long as they stayed close, Thane's minions picked it up too.  Thane stayed slightly back with Meize, casting his curses and covering Martenus' back, while she threw ice and fire at the demons.  They had never been so efficient before, despite the slight lack of power in Meize's fire in the thin air.

Meize could feel herself relaxing as they worked on different combinations of attacks, realizing that she would probably never have to battle alone again.  She had to admit, she was even starting to like Thane.  He had a quirky sense of humor and a quiet way about him that she had previously taken for arrogance.  And it helped that he had finally warmed up to her, too.

By the time they reached the bottom level, they had cemented their dependence on each other's powers.

Here they entered into a wide hall, completely barren but for a few barrels in a corner.  There was a definite finality about this place.  If the countess did still exist in these rotten ruins, she was only a breath away.

Martenus quietly led the way to the closest doorway. But for two surprised goatmen, this room was completely empty of monsters.  It was not empty, however, of treasure.  Gold coins lay scattered all across the room, and Thane wasted no time in starting to clean them up.  Martenus and Meize jumped in while there was still gold to be had.

When they were finished, they made their way back quietly across the main hall and through the doorway on the opposite side.  As luck would have it, this room was just as full of gold, and with nothing guarding it.

There were only two doorways left from which they could choose.  They knew the levels above had been much larger, so behind one of these doors, or both, was sure to lie the countess' chambers.

Using an old, childhood game to make the decision for them, they stepped through the opening on the left.  Thane's minions went first and the three adventurers followed carefully after.  Aside from their ever-present companions permanently asleep within the walls, the room was completely devoid of anything.  There was another doorway up and to the right.  With a great feeling of foreboding, they crept up to the entryway.  Thane waved his minions through… nothing happened.  They quietly followed after, and suddenly a wall of flame flared behind them, cutting off their escape.

"Well, well… What have we here?"  A throaty, feminine voiced asked.  

Immediately they were rushed at by at least eight or ten corrupted rogues.  Martenus and the skeletons held them back, but one, who was different from the others, got through to Thane and Meize.  Thane switched from his wand to his sword and met her head on, but she merely pushed him aside into the rest of the fray, heading straight for Meize.

"Pretty thing… You'll make such a nice pet."  She suddenly threw a chain around the sorceress' neck and yanked her in close, wrenching the staff out of her hands.

Anger took over the sorceress' controls, overcoming the numbness of fear.  "I don't need my staff to hurt you."  The countess screamed as the fireball tore into her stomach, and was followed by a second, and a third.  The fourth blast was ice, and the countess was almost completely immobilized.  Seizing the opportunity from behind, Thane cursed her and Martenus brought his sword swiftly down at an angle, slicing her straight through from shoulder to opposite hip, and she collapsed into two cold, gory pieces.  She didn't even bleed.

Before Martenus could get there, Thane was beside Meize, helping her unwind the chain from around her neck, gently detangling the links from her hair.  "I think we'll call it a day here and take a town portal back."  Suddenly a large chest at the back of the room popped open and treasure started pouring out of it.  "Yahoo!"  The necromancer cheered as he grabbed her hand and ran over to the chest.  "Now this quest was certainly worth the effort."

Laughing, the three pocketed all the treasure they could.  What they couldn't personally carry, they strapped to the skeletons.

Martenus handed Meize back her staff.  "Let's finish checking this last doorway and go home."

The countess and her ladies were the last of the beings they encountered, and they found just a little more gold in the next room.  Meize opened a portal and they went back to the camp, jingling their way over to Cain to have him identify some of the items.


	5. This Break Brought to You By

Thane had made quite a haul on this trip, considering the weight of the sack of gold coins Charsi had given him in exchange for some of the magical items he had found.  It had been a good day indeed.  If he was going to put his life on the line day in and day out for these people, then he was at least going to make a tidy profit doing it.  He liked to think of it as his retirement fund.  When this job was done he hoped to have enough money to buy a nice house with a small lab so he could study his craft, hire a couple of servants, find a wife…  He smiled to himself as he wondered if Meize would be interested.  Damn, but the girl was growing on him fast.

Wasn't it just the other day he was ready to lock her in irons to keep her in town and out of the way?  Then he came across her lying in the mud.  He'll never forget the anguish in her voice calling him to stop.  When he thought about the whole thing later he realized that she really would have drowned in that mud when her strength gave out.  And he couldn't stop kicking himself for being such a cold jerk.

Now he found himself hurrying to see her.  He had kept back a piece of the treasure Cain had identified for him, and he knew she'd love it.

He was just about to pull back the flap on their tent when he heard a tantalizing splashing sound.  Manly curiosity got the better of him and he gently eased back a corner of the flap just enough to peek in.  He was rewarded with the sight of a glistening, tanned leg stepping out of the tub.  His gaze traveled up the curve of her calf, the lean length of her thigh… "OUCH!"

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"  Kashya stood there behind him waving a javelin.  "I knew you were a jackass, but are you a pervert too?  Can't you see the privacy sign above your head?  What is it with you and your other testosterone-loaded partner?  Give the poor girl some space!"

Thane stood up, rubbing his bruised skull.  "It's just…"

"Go!"  She commanded him, pointing to the central fire.

He had to explain himself and save at least a little honour.  "I'm not…"

"GO!"  She swung the javelin at his head again.

"All right!"  He threw his hands up in surrender and started towards the fire, but he changed his mind and stalked off to find Gheed and try his luck on a few items instead.  Probably not a good idea when he was so angry, but it was something to get him away from here.  He could hear Kashya behind him calling into the tent that there was nothing the matter, Meize should enjoy herself, she'd rousted out all the rats.

Oh, he was never going to hear the end of this debacle.

Sure enough at dinner, several thousand gold pieces later, everyone was staring at him.  Or at least he was sure everyone was staring at him, and every whisper and every giggle was about him, and it was giving him a twitch.  He grabbed his bowl of stew and loaf of bread and sat down at the fire.  Martenus and Meize soon joined him, but they sat a little ways away, Meize hiding on the other side of the paladin.

They ate in silence for several minutes, and she refused to look at him.

He finally couldn't stand it anymore. "Oh, come on, guys!  It was just a misunderstanding."

"Silence, wretch."  Martenus held his fork up in front of the necromancer's face as if it were a wall between them.  "You owe the lady an apology."

"But I didn't do anything!"  Thane wined.  "I was just going to our tent when Kashya accosted me."

"She said you were clearly peeping."

_Damn you, Martenus.  You're clearly trying to win her to your side, aren't you._  "Well, I had to see if it was you or Meize before I went in, right?"

"She said you were drooling."

"Wh… bu… ya…"  The necromancer was out of excuses.  He had to save this somehow.  "I'm a _man_, damnit!  When a lady splashes in a tub, I just have to look.  And don't tell me, holy man, you wouldn't have done the same thing."  That's when something Kashya had said about 'him and his partner' clicked.  "In fact, you _did_ look."

Martenus jumped out of his seat, his bowl of stew spilling everywhere, and his honour clearly offended.  "I most certainly did not!  I am a gentleman."

"You did too.  Admit it."

"How dare you imply such a thing!"  The paladin roared.

"'Cause it's the truth!"

"That's it, dead man, you're going down!"  The two warriors suddenly locked themselves in a fierce grapple.  Thorns was cast, Amplified Damage was intoned...

Kashya forced herself between them.  "Enough!  I caught you both peeking into the tent while she was bathing, you're both perverts, end of story."

Hesitantly, they both turned to look at Meize, who had a flicker of flame dancing on the tip of her finger.

They fell to their knees before her.  "Oh, god.  We're so sorry."  "Please forgive us."  "Don't hurt me."  "So very sorry."  "Didn't see a thing, honest."  "Not a thing!"

Thane shoved Martenus over.  "Liar, try and get me in trouble, when you did the same thing."

And the wrestling match resumed until Kashya broke them up again and sent them to opposite sides of the fire for a time out.

-------------

It took all evening, but they had eventually groveled their ways back into her good books.  Meize still wasn't sure which one she was more disgusted with—Thane for admitting he looked, or Martenus for not admitting he looked.  Oh well.  Privacy was only a nice theory with the three of them living so closely together anyway.  And, when she got over her anger, she realized that in a backwards way it was kind of a compliment.

Thane came into the tent just as she was about to crawl into her blankets.

"Knock, knock."  He shyly laughed.  "Is it safe for me to come in?"

"I'm always up for more groveling."

"Actually," he twisted his hands together nervously, "it's the reason why I came to find you earlier, before… all of this happened."  He sat down close to her.  "You can't imagine how sorry I am."

"I know.  And I'm not angry anymore."

"Good, then you won't throw this at me."  He reached into his pocket and pulled out an amulet.  "I found this on the countess, and I thought you might want it.  Cain says it helps replenish life and helps protect against fire.  He said it was quite special."  He took her hand in his, dropped it into her palm, and closed her fingers around it.

He didn't let go of her hand, and she could feel herself blushing.  "Th… thank you."

"Meize, I…"

"Knock, knock!"  Martenus called from outside an instant before he stepped through the flap.  He looked at them sitting there for only a short moment before he grabbed her hand that Thane had quickly relinquished and hauled her to her feet.  "Akara says there'll be a meteor shower tonight.  Let's go watch."  And without another word he pulled her out of the tent and out to the outskirts of the camp.

She had just perched herself up on the fence, getting her bare feet out of the cold grass, when Martenus pointed out a meteor to her.  It really was beautiful.  She couldn't help muse to herself the idea of pulling down one of those meteors as a weapon.

She shivered with cold in her thin shirt, and he put his arm around her.

"Better?"  He asked.

Suddenly Thane appeared on her other side, placing a blanket over her shoulders.  "Insensitive buffoon."

"That's it…"

And their private war resumed.

Neither of them noticed Meize slip away.  _Oh, Goddess.  Is this what I get when they finally notice I'm here?  It was far more peaceful when they just ignored me._


	6. Calamity

They awoke the next morning bruised and sore, but they had vented their jealousies and anger.  It was a quiet breakfast they shared before they donned their armor, gingerly, and set out via the waypoint again to the Black Marsh.  It took them a couple of days, but they finished clearing out the marsh and the underground pit they had found back near the countess' tower.

It was a strained silence that surrounded them.  Thane and Martenus had little to say to one another, and Meize was afraid of sparking another round.  So instead they just concentrated on their contributions to the fight, and the demons got the brunt of their frustrations.

Finally the marsh was clean and they planned to travel the next day into the Tamoe Highlands to work their way to the Monastery Gate.  The rogues had assured them that there was a waypoint just within the outer cloister of the Monastery.  Depending on how the day went, this was where they planned to call it a night and take the waypoint back to the encampment.

It was going to be a hard day.  The closer they got to Andariel, the stronger the monsters got that they were fighting.  But, in turn, they continued to grow stronger themselves.  Their skills and their bodies were honed daily by the hard work of fighting, and at night, especially now when they had so little to say to one another, they worked on developing their innate magical abilities, developing new ways or improving old ways of fighting their enemies.  They had to grow in order to succeed, and they had to succeed, there was no other option.

Martenus cast his aura of Thorns, Meize cast her Frozen Armor, and Thane readied himself to raise a fresh golem the instant they arrived back at the waypoint in the Black Marsh.  There was the brief moment of "nothing" as they passed through the physical boundaries of space, and then they were suddenly there.

They could see a group of Carvers in the distance toward the highlands.  It was always disheartening how the little buggers could proliferate so quickly and within one night be infesting areas that had already cleaned out.  But it would end with the death of Andariel.  Just a few more days and this dirty work would finally be done.

Meize laid out the cover fire from a distance to frighten and confuse the enemy group as the men rushed in to finish them off.  It didn't take long as they were fresh and full of fight, and they set off down the path into the Tamoe Highlands.

It was a long, difficult journey, forcing the men to reaffirm their dependence on one another, and they set their grudges aside.  They had to fight endless numbers of stronger and stronger creatures now that they were getting so close to the monastery and the source of all the evil.  They ended up camping out in the highlands that night, unable to return to the rogue camp without losing the ground they had gained if they took a town portal back.  The portals only stayed open for so long, certainly not the entire night, and the chance of demons getting through into the camp at some point during those hours was high.  The rogues had learned that lesson the hard way.  So without an active waypoint nearby, they were forced to stay.

With the necromancer's small army around them, Martenus stood first watch uneventfully, and Thane stood second watch, again uneventfully.  Just as he woke Meize for the last watch, however, was when it happened.  It all happened so quickly, he didn't have time to think.  He gently shook her awake, and just as she stood up to take his place her eyes suddenly widened in surprise, and she collapsed into him.  He caught her as she fell to the ground, the shaft of an arrow protruding from the back of her leather armor.  Rage poured through him.

"DESTROY THEM!!"  He cried out to his minions, and he sent forth a curse more powerful than any he could ever replicate again.  The force of the emotions in his command sent the skeletons slashing about in a blind fury, damaging themselves as well as the dark rogue archers they had flushed out of ambush.  The clay golem made his kill and then continued to just bash the dead body into the ground until there was nothing left.

Martenus was up with Thane's cry, sword and shield in hand, ready to defend their camp.  And from out of the darkness they poured, dozens of assorted monsters.

Thane hated to let go of Meize, but he had to help the paladin.  He summoned fresh skeletons, but these still contained the power of his anger, and formed into mages themselves.  Staying as close to Meize as he could, he fought with everything he had.  They decimated the oncoming onslaught quickly and decisively.

When nothing again moved in the pre-dawn light, Thane put down his weapons and gathered Meize into his arms.  There was so much blood and she was so pale.

Martenus opened a town portal for him.

"I'll take her to Akara and be right back.  We are taking the monastery _today_."  He stepped through the portal and into the camp.  He ran straight to Akara, his precious burden light in his arms.

He began to call Akara's name as he neared her tent, and she met him, bleary-eyed but worried as he stepped in.  She ushered him over to her operating table and had him lay Meize down there, calling for her assistants who were already entering the tent.  She then pushed Thane out the door and told him to go wash off, they would send word when they had news.

He looked down and saw that his hands and his armor were covered in blood.  _Oh God_, he thought, _she's not going to live_.  He wanted to let the numbness that threatened to wash over him take control, he didn't want to feel anymore, but he knew had a job to do.  He would do it in her name.

He quickly washed and cleaned his armor, then went back to the portal at the edge of town.


	7. Recognition

Thane stepped through the portal, closing it behind him, and rejoined Martenus at their temporary campsite.  Martenus had already packed up their blankets and doused the fire and was ready to move on.  Without a word between them, they continued their march to the Monastery.  There was no playing around this time.  They went straight for the gates, only killing what demons got in their way.  The faster they got to Andariel, the faster all this would be over, and a later mop-up of the highlands would be easier and permanent.

Even having started before dawn, it was evening before the gates finally loomed in front of them.  The guards there fell easily before the angry, determined men, and they soon found their way to the ancient waypoint in the Outer Cloister.  Thane muttered the incantation that awakened it, and they didn't hesitate a moment in returning to the camp.

When they arrived, Martenus graciously offered to carry Thane's gear to their tent so that the necromancer was free to go straight to Akara and check on Meize.  Thane gratefully relinquished his items and had just come past the corner of a tent when someone called his name.  He looked down the row of tents to find the object of his quest running towards him in the soft torchlight.

"You're finally back!  I was getting so worried!"  She stopped short just in front of him, her cheeks rosy, and the picture of perfect health.  He was amazed.

"Worried about me?  What about you?  You were half dead when I brought you to Akara."  He reached out and pulled her into his arms.  "God, we were so worried about you."

"I'm fine.  Akara is an amazing healer.  In fact, if anything, she's over-healed me.  I've got a serious buzz going."

They both smiled at each other.  He leaned down and, changing his intent at the last instant, kissed her gently on the forehead.  "Come on.  Martenus will be anxious to see you."

Keeping his arm around her shoulders, he walked with her to their tent, telling her about their arrival at the monastery.  They found Martenus diligently cleaning his sword in front of their own little fire, their gear having already been stowed away in the tent.

"What's this?"  He put down his sword and rose to hug her in turn.  "I was expecting an invalid."

"As I told Thane, Akara is a miracle worker."  She smiled at both men warmly, her heart bursting with joy.  She didn't know why she was so happy, but she was.  Perhaps it was an after effect of her near-death experience.  Perhaps it was just the high Akara put her on.

"So," Martenus asked, "when will you be back on our tour de force?  We've sorely missed your help."

She laughed.  "I'm ready to go this instant.  I've got enough bottled up energy to kick some serious butt."  She started dancing around like a fighter, throwing fake jabs at Thane's mid section.

"Hey," Thane mockingly whined, "are you trying to bruise me?"

"Ooh," she suddenly stopped.  "I know.  I'm going to go pick off some quill rats."  She jumped in the tent, grabbed her staff, and was gone before either man had a chance to stop her.

"Lord, but she's going to crash hard tonight."  Martenus muttered as he watched her disappear into the night.

"I wonder what Akara gave her.  Could use some of that stuff myself."

Both men shrugged at one another and sat down to clean their armor.

-----------------

She was back an hour later, still bouncing around with a grin from ear to ear.  "That was fun!  I can fry them very nicely now."

"Speaking of frying," Thane interrupted her, unable to stop smiling himself, "let's get some dinner."

Together, the two of them grabbed some stew and sat down with the rest of the rogues at the central fire who were listening to Cain tell a story of better times.  They finished eating and then relaxed, just sitting there together listening to the tale.  Suddenly Meize started to yawn and leaned in close to Thane.

He put his arm around her as she shivered.  "Do you want to go back to the tent now?"

"No," she nuzzled against him.  "I'm not tired yet."  And she yawned again.

He gave her a gentle squeeze, and returned his attention to the story.

He knew the instant she fell asleep when her breathing changed, her body soft against him.  He had never known what it meant to be truly content until this moment.  So he just let her sleep.  All too soon Cain finished his story and the rogues began to slowly disperse.

Akara made her way quietly over to them.  "I see she's finally run herself out."

"What did you give her?  I could use some of that in the mornings with my coffee, I think."

"I didn't give her anything.  She was just reacting to the stress of nearly dying.  We all react differently.  Some become depressed, others inspired.  She found her inner child and her vivacity for life."  She stroked the sleeping girl's hair.  "She'll be more like herself tomorrow."

Thane and Akara continued to quietly talk, unaware that Martenus was watching them sadly from the other side of the fire.  Cain placed his hand comfortingly on the man's shoulder.

"I always knew I would lose to him," he explained before Cain could even ask, "but it still hurts to see it.  I guess I still hoped there would be a chance."

"Their attraction is on a different level than most people.  Their powers call out to one another.  I really hate to tell you this, but you never had a chance against his arcane magics and his dark intelligence.  And he's also a good looking lad, just as handsome as you."

"I guess especially now when he's finally got a tan and some meat on his bones."  The paladin tried to make light of his sadness.

"I think, my friend, you are suited to a more down-to-earth kind of girl.  And you haven't noticed that there's a lovely little rogue that keeps following you around, have you, looking just as forlorn and lovesick as you do now."  And he indicated over to the side, where a couple of rogues were quietly talking.

Martenus straightened in surprise when he met eyes with the one he knew to named Annor, and she shyly looked away, blushing madly in the firelight.

"It's a lovely time of night for a moonlit stroll…"  Cain encouraged.

"Thank you."  And without another glance at the trio across the fire, Martenus set off to invite the beautiful Annor for a walk.

Thane spotted the two of them leaving together and breathed out a sigh of relief—not because he had won, but because now they could all be friends again.  There was no need for awkwardness between them anymore.

Akara excused herself when Cain came over to lead her back to her tent, leaving Thane and Meize completely alone.  He gently picked her up, hoping not to wake her, and carried her back to their tent.  He set her down and stretched out beside her, wrapping them both in his blankets.  And he slept.


	8. Pop!

This dream was familiar.  She was running through the underground passage to the Dark Wood again.  She couldn't find Thane or Martenus.  They didn't answer her calls.  She came around the corner into a lit cavern.  Cold Crow, Blood Raven, and the Countess were all there waiting for her.

But this time she wasn't afraid.

"Silly girl," Cold Crow taunted, "think you can take us all on?"

"Yes, and I'll win, too."

The Countess confronted her now.  "You never made the killing blow on any of us."

"That is true."

They began to circle round her like vultures.

"You are just a weak child."  Blood Raven sneered at her.

"I know."

"You never could have killed us alone."

"But she's not alone."  Thane materialized from the darkness behind them.

Suddenly all three cried out in pain and vanished.

And the dream ended.

-------------------

Meize awoke the next morning completely alone in their tent, and slightly confused about how she even got there, not to mention why she was in Thane's blankets.  The whole evening was just a foggy memory.  She remembered something about quill rats and then having dinner with Thane at the fire, and it just got completely fuzzy from there.

But at least she was alive and in one piece.  She remembered that much about yesterday.

Thane pushed aside the flap and came in carrying enough food to feed a small army.

"Hey, sleepyhead.  You're finally awake.  How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling pretty good, considering…"  She paused, appearing hesitant to finish her sentence.

"…you almost died?"  He ventured to finish for her.

"That, and I think I was completely wasted yesterday."

Thane gently chuckled at her as he set down the food.  "Hate to tell you this, but that was a completely natural high.  It was all you."

"Was I as complete a fool as I think I remember?"

"Not at all."  He handed her the cheese he had just sliced.

"Where's Martenus?"

"I don't know, actually.  He left the fire last night with one of the rogues, and I don't think he came back."

"Really?"

Thane simply nodded as he bit into a meat-filled bun.  They shared a quiet, comfortable meal together, then helped one another into their gear.  They were just about ready to go when the paladin finally returned.

"Well guys," he cheerily greeted them, "we're finally in the monastery.  We're almost done this dirty business."

They finished gearing up and set out for the camp's waypoint.

They were just about to enter the waypoint when a voice called to them to wait.  They turned to find the rogue Annor running towards them, bow in hand.

"I'm coming with you."

Martenus stepped off the platform to intercept her.  "No, you are not.  I will not have anything happen to you.  I couldn't face Kashya if we lost another one of her rogues.  And I couldn't face myself if it was you."

But the girl would not be gainsaid.  "I will fight by your side, Paladin.  I will not stay here worrying every moment you're away like a useless maiden.  I've done that enough to this point already."  She brushed past him and stood on the waypoint next to Meize, daring him to say anything further.

"Please don't make me responsible for your safety."  He quietly begged her.  "We almost lost Meize yesterday, and I will not go through that kind of torment again."

"I will be responsible for my own safety.  And I'm coming to protect you, not the other way around."

"Please, don't do this…"

"I'm not going to stay behind."

"But if anything should happen to you…"

"Then I shall answer to the gods for my own foolishness."

Without another word Martenus joined them, taking Annor's hand in his, and they traveled the arcane highway to the Outer Cloister.  There a group of corrupted rogues laid in wait around the exit, and they dove for their lives from the rain of arrows and lances.  The ranged attacks of Thane's skeleton mages, combined with Meize's and Annor's firepower quickly eliminated the archers, while Thane, Martenus, and the golem took down the lancers.

Using the bodies around them, Thane collapsed most of his mages and resurrected regular, armed skeletons.  "With Annor to assist with ranged attacks, I think we need more melee strength."  He explained as he adjusted his army.

"Annor," Meize turned to the rogue, "do you know where we have to go?"

"Yes and no.  I lived above and ventured only occasionally to the levels below.  They are twisted and confusing, and I can only tell you how to get to certain rooms and back.  Plus, Andariel resides in the lowest level where I have never been."

"But didn't you grow up here?  I would think you knew every inch of this place like the notches on your bow."  Thane replied.

"I spent more time ranging our lands than exploring the monastery.  I had no reason or permission to be in the jail levels or the catacombs, and felt no compulsion, unlike some of the others, to sneak around there."

"Do not fret," Martenus intervened.  "You can at least get us down there."

"Most certainly.  We must first cross the cloister to the barracks.  And while we're there we need to stop at the armory to pick up Charsi's special hammer.  I promised I'd get it for her if I went with you.  Then we go to the stairs and down to the first jail level."

"Well, let's go then."

And they set off at a jog, following Annor across the gardens, picking off quill rats and yetis as they went.  They came up to a large set of doors on the far side, and eased them open just enough to slip through.

The barracks were absolutely crawling with Devilkin and Dark Ones, grunting and babbling in their nonsensical language.  Meize took the usual lead and started hurling fire balls into their midst and the fighters began to hack and slash through the confused chaos that resulted.  Annor's fire arrows picked them off rapidly as well, with one shot being all that was needed to bring the little ones down.

When the main room was cleared, they worked their way back to the armory to find Charsi's Horadric Malus.

"Oh, Lord!"  Martenus came running back out from behind a hallway.  "Really big, really angry guy in there!"

"That would be The Smith.  Charsi mentioned something about him..."  Annor began to explain.

"Run away!  Run away!"  Thane suddenly sprinted past them, pointing to the huge beast coming around the corner.

They ran, the beast lumbering after them, until they reached the main room again.  Here, at least, they had room to stand their ground.  And Thane had plenty of corpses from which to resurrect new skeletons as The Smith continued to smash them to smithereens.

As with their battle against Griswold all that time ago, they just sent everything they had at the creature.  But this time, with the combined might of the four warriors and their posse, The Smith fell far more quickly, though certainly not easily.

They took a moment to rest while Annor ran back for the hammer.

"Hey, check this out."  Thane called to the others.  "I've discovered something interesting.  When I try to resurrect new skeletons too quickly, they explode.  Stand back."  And he demonstrated his theory on a dead Devilkin.  Blood, bone, and gore suddenly erupted everywhere.  "This is too cool."  And another corpse suddenly popped.  "I'm surprised I didn't figure this out ages ago."

"If you get any of that on me…"  Meize threatened, shaking her staff at him.

Pop!

"Thane!  Stop it!  That's so gross!"  She ran further away from the group of corpses he was exploding.

Pop!

"Hey, you almost got me!"

Fortunately there was fodder everywhere.  Pop!

"THANE!"  She ran up and wrapped herself around him.  "Now you'll have to get yourself, too."

Pop!

"Aah!"  She opened her eyes, expecting to find herself covered in gore, but it had broken in a halo around them.

"Give me a little credit, would you?"  He laughed at her.  "Trust me, you can stand in the middle of the explosion and it won't touch you."

"How?"

"Trade secret."  He touched his finger to her lips.

Just then Annor came back with the hammer.  She stopped dead in her tracks looking at the gruesome mess.  "What the hell…"

"Don't ask."  Martenus chuckled and walked over to guide her back out the door.

"Wait for me!"  Meize called, running after them.

Pop!

"Goddess, give me strength…"


	9. Frustration

The jail levels were cold and dank, poorly lit, and riddled with all kinds of demons and monsters—some they had encountered before, some they hadn't.  They were behind every door, every corner, and every wall.  Ranged attackers picked at them through cell bars, and skeleton mages bombarded them before they'd barely set foot in a room.  The Dark Ones and their ilk were everywhere, their shamans hiding behind bigger monsters or other obstacles endlessly resurrecting their hordes if Thane didn't explode them first.

When they initially descended to the first level, Annor knew theoretically which way to go to find the next staircase down.  But the infestation and battles got her so turned around she was as lost as the others.  So they fought their way blindly down hallways and through rooms, turning around at dead ends, getting trapped in jail cells, until finally they stumbled upon the stairs.

"What God-loved fool designed this place?"  Martenus grumbled.

Annor turned and gave him a quick kiss.  "Be strong, my warrior.  I do know that there is a waypoint somewhere in the jails.  Let's find it and go home.  Start fresh again tomorrow."

"Aye.  That sounds like an excellent plan."

She was right, there was a waypoint in the jail levels, but she had no idea they had already missed it.  They hunted through the second level the same as they did the first, blindly through twisting corridors and dead ends, fighting a ceaseless barrage of opponents.

Martenus was beginning to stumble.

"Thane," Meize caught his arm, "should we just use a portal and go back to the camp?  Start back from the outer cloister again tomorrow?  Martenus is tired, we all are.  We can't continue on like this much longer."

"We can't stop.  We'll never remember the way through to this point again.  But maybe we should take a break here for a while."

Thane called for the others, and they retired to an empty room with only one door to guard.  Meize opened a portal to the encampment, taking Annor back with her.  They returned a short while later with hot food, cool water, and fresh clothes.

The men had already pulled off most of their armor and were grateful for the opportunity to wash off the sweat and put on clean linens.  After they had eaten the delicious, hearty soup, Meize took everything back to the camp.  As she had gone by herself this time, she took a moment to find Akara and ask where the waypoint was.  Much to her dismay, she was told they had long gone past it.  She grimly returned, closing the portal behind her.

She sat down beside Thane where he was resting against the wall, and she quietly told him about her conversation with Akara.  He sighed heavily, glancing at their other companions.  They were leaning against the other wall, arms around each other, eyes closed.

"Well, at least now we know.  We can just keep going when we find the next stairwell."

Meize looked at the other two again.  "Did I miss something yesterday?  When did _they_ happen?"

"I don't really know.  They left the fire together last night, and now they're obviously quite attached."

"I guess when you fall in love you know it's love."

"Do you?"  He asked quietly.

She blushed, uncertain of what she may have just opened.

A movement outside the doorway, followed by the rush of Thane's skeletons out of it, closed the topic.

The skeletons had made short work of the little carver, but knowing that there would be more returning, they geared up again and set back out into the twisting halls.

Finally they found the stairs down to the third level, and they spent hours more hunting and fighting their way through those halls.

At last they found the staircase going up, and they walked out into the dim moonlight filtering into the inner cloister gardens. There was only one skeleton archer laying in wait, and Annor picked him off before the others had even registered it was there.

"What time is it?" Meize asked, rubbing her eyes, trying to get them to focus in the gloom.

"I think we can safely assume we missed dinner." Thane quietly replied, dropping down to a tired crouch.

"We're so close," Annor assured them, "the waypoint is just through that door." She took Martenus by the hand and led the numb, battle-fatigued man through.

Meize waited a moment while Thane gathered enough energy to stand, then they followed the others through the door. Sure enough the waypoint was right there, and Martenus was already tiredly bumbling through the incantation to awaken it.

It was a quiet and beleaguered group that finally stepped into the sleeping camp.  Thane collapsed his minions, not caring to waste another bit of energy controlling them, then followed with the others to their own tent.  They helped each other unload their armor and collapsed into their blankets, Annor returning to her own tent.

--------------------

The sun was high again when they awoke, and no one wanted to acknowledge that they were awake.  If they were awake, they would have to get up and move on again.  Staying in bed was a much more appealing occupation of the day.

Her stomach rumbling, Meize couldn't stand it any more and got up to see what was left of breakfast at the kitchen.  It didn't take long before the others joined her.  Annor was already up and waiting for them.

They all grabbed some food and sat down to discuss the day's plans.

"Do we know where the next waypoint _really_ is?"  Thane began grumpily.

"I am so sorry about that.  I had no idea it was on the first level."  Annor quietly apologized.

"When I talked to Akara about the waypoints yesterday," Meize volunteered, "she told me that the last one in the monastery is on the second level of the catacombs.  Andarial is on the fourth level.  As we'll need to be as fresh as possible before we face her, we'll obviously need to break and come back when we reach that waypoint."

"I know the first level of the catacombs well.  That is where we have placed our most recent dead, and we have buried many there lately."  Annor sadly paused.  "I can get us easily through the cathedral, down and through to the second level.  After that, I'm lost again.  But if we only have to find the waypoint on that level, it should only take us a couple of hours."

"Sounds good."  Martenus confirmed.  "Let's take the rest of the morning to relax, and then we'll head back in for a couple of hours, and hopefully be home in time for a nice dinner."

They took advantage of the time to have Cain identify some items for them, have Charsi repair their equipment, and do a little shopping.

Meize was thrilled to find a pair of heavy boots she could afford that increased her stamina.  Thane was not so thrilled when he wiped out his savings on a bum piece of armor he gambled on from Gheed.  She had to help pry the necromancer off the wily merchant, who, as soon as his throat was released, went chuckling back into his wagon.  Thane started to follow, but Meize grabbed hold of his arm and dug in her heels to hold him back.

"I could have gotten my money back, I just had to wring his neck a little longer."

"You know he would never give you your money back."

"But I need it.  I had big retirement plans that I needed that gold for."  He looked at her sadly.

"Well then," she lightly hit him on the shin with her staff, "quit gambling it away, you silly man!"

"I think I'm going to have to leave you in charge of our finances."  He sighed, then suddenly distracted himself as he realized his blunder.

But Meize missed the real meaning of his slip.  "I'm not looking after your gold too, forget it.  Frustrating enough keeping count of my own."  She looked up at the sun.  "It's almost noon, we should get going."

They went back to their tent with the others, geared up, and returned to the Inner Cloister.


	10. Separation

The Inner Cloister was suspiciously empty of monsters but for a few spike fiends.  They followed Annor through the cloister and into the cathedral.  The girl nearly shattered when the doors opened to reveal the destruction and defilement of the holy place within.  But there was little time for mourning as the place was crawling with demons.

Martenus, extra sensitive to the sacrilege, set to slaying with a feverish ferocity.  With Annor at his side, they slowly made their way from one end of the room to the other, wiping out anything and everything that moved.  Meize and Thane, meanwhile, made a sweep of the side rooms and the small chapel at the back.

When they were done, Annor walked over to the altar and pulled off the body of a long-deceased sacrifice.  She ripped off the fabric from its rotten corpse and wet it with her water flask.  She scrubbed the top of the altar as best she could, then tossed the stained cloth into a fire burning nearby.  When she was done, they wordlessly descended into the catacombs below.

The catacombs were laid out much the same as the jail levels.  There was no sense or order to their halls and rooms, and anyone traveling through had to simply _know_ where they were going to make it from one stairwell to the other with any ease.  Throw in a demon infestation, and the catacombs were purely chaotic.

With Annor in the lead, they were making progress.  It was slow fighting their way through, but they were actually getting somewhere.

They were about halfway to the stairs, Annor and Meize a little ahead of the men and out of sight around a corner, when vampire-like creatures suddenly appeared between the two groups.  Attracted to the life forces of the stronger men, the group of champion Banished swarmed them.

In the meantime, unaware of the fierce battle behind them, the girls had walked into a problem of their own.  They had walked right into a room full of Misshapen.  There was a moment of pause when all in the room stopped to realize the situation, then lightning balls started flying.

"Goddess!"  Meize cried as she ducked from a hail of balls.  Annor let her arrows fly as best she could while avoiding the lightning attack, but they seemed to do little good.  Meize's fireballs seemed to do too little, too, when she was able to get in a shot.  They just couldn't put up an efficient defense while avoiding the barrage of electrical missiles.

The air in the room was now so electrically charged, Meize's hair was lifting in a halo around her.  She had a sudden inspiration and absorbed the lightning energy from the air around her.  When she could feel it surging through her veins, she concentrated it all within the center of her being, then flung it out in a sizzling nova.

It was enough damage to kill the creatures closest to them and scare off the rest so that they could run for the door on the other side of the room.  They had no choice but to go forward; the way back was completely blocked by the regrouping beasts.

"Go, go, go!"  Meize cried, leaping out the door.  They slammed it closed behind them.

"We've got to find the guys."  Annor swung her quiver off her shoulder, counting her arrows.  "Damn, I'm almost out."

"Is there another way around back to where they were?"

"It's a bit of a trek.  They will probably have already moved on by the time we get there."  She arranged the quiver back into place.

"Will they know we went into that room?"

"I'm pretty sure they were right behind us when we went in."

"So if we just wait here we'll hear them in there any second."  Meize strained at the door to hear any noise of battle.  She could hear the creatures moaning and crying, but nothing else.

They waited several long minutes, but their companions never came.

"I think, maybe we'd better go around."  Meize suggested.

"This way."  Annor took off at a trot, anxious to find them.

They worked their way around, but as they feared, the men had already moved on.

"What now?"  The girls looked at one another.

"Let's see if we can follow them."  Meize advised.  "I've had to track them by following their trail of corpses before."

It was easy enough at first, the trail being quite distinguishable.  But before long the halls were empty of bodies.

Annor took another look at her near-empty quiver.  "Let's just go to the stairs and wait for them there.  I think that's what they'd expect us to do."

She ran out of arrows before they made it.  Shortly afterwards Meize ran out of mana potions.

"I think maybe we should just take a town portal back.  They'll go there eventually looking for us."  Meize checked her belt fruitlessly.  "Oh, don't tell me…  I used my only one yesterday.  Do you have one?"

Annor checked her belt and shook her head no.

They decided to continue and make a run for the stairs.  By the time they got there, they had a large group of assorted monsters coming after them in chase.  They couldn't stop and wait for the others there as they had hoped, and so they descended.

Mercifully, the room at the bottom was empty and there was no sound of pursuit from above.  They stopped to catch their breaths.

"Should we just plow on ahead to the waypoint and wait for them at camp?"  Annor asked.

"I don't know."  Meize replied.  "Look at the number of beasts we scared up knowing where we had to go.  How many more are we going to find down here when we don't know where we're going."  She readjusted the fit on her armor.  "I don't think we have much choice, though.  At least if we activate the waypoint, we've done what we needed to do today.  If we all portal back, we have to start over from the cloister.  And unless we find a town portal scroll, our only way back is the waypoint."  She sighed and quit fiddling with her straps.  "Do you have any idea how to get to the waypoint?"

"No, I don't.  I really don't."

"Then we run."

It didn't take long for them to collect a large group in pursuit again.  They couldn't stop to rest for even a moment or they'd find themselves engulfed by demons.  And it only got worse with every turn they made.  Finally the inevitable happened and they found themselves in a dead end, trapped by an army of monsters.

They turned and Meize fired volley after volley, quickly draining her mana, but hoping to force an opening through which they could escape.  It just barely worked.  Annor cracked her bow over the head of a Banished while Meize bashed a few last Dark Ones out of the way with her staff.

That's when one of them dropped a town portal scroll.

Meize made a grab for the fallen scroll.

"No!!"  Annor cried, diving on top of her, driving them both into the stone floor, a fireball exploding where the scroll had lain as an axe and several arrows embedded themselves in the wall beside them.

Slightly stunned, Meize didn't resist as Annor pulled her up and running down the hall.  They jumped into an empty room and closed the door.

"Shit, shit, shit!"  Meize fumed.  "I was so close."

"I'm sorry, but you would have..."

"No, I'm not angry at you.  I'm just angry."  She paced around the little room.  "What are we going to do?"

"Perhaps we should just stay here.  Martenus and Thane will find us eventually.  You know they won't stop looking until they find us."

Meize stopped pacing and turned to her friend.  "I can't do that.  It's too…"  She searched for the right word.

"Helpless."  Annor finished for her, dropping the pieces of her broken bow and sinking to the floor.

"Helpless."  Meize echoed, leaning her forehead against the cold wall.

Something heavy smashed against the door, causing them both to jump.  The only thing in the room they could use to barricade the door was an old crate.  It wasn't very heavy, and it wouldn't hold anything back long, but they moved it over anyway.  Something bashed against the door again, sending down a rain of dust and dry mortar.  It hit again, the door nearly coming out of the wall.  The girls scrambled to the back of the room, preparing themselves as best they could for the coming onslaught.  One more hit, the door rocked against the crate, and the tip of an axe shot through.  It wiggled as the wielder tried to free it from the ancient wood.  Meize ran up and placed her hand on the bit of exposed blade, sending the heat of her fire through the axe until something yelped in pain on the other side.

Nothing attacked the door again, the axe remained embedded, but the demons didn't leave.  Meize and Annor could hear their unharmonious medley of moans, cacklings, and grunts in the hall.

An hour passed, then two.  They were still trapped in the little room, the monsters waiting for them would not give up.  Eventually they ended up huddled together in the corner, Meize gently warming the stones around them as her mana reserves allowed.

They tried to take their minds off their situation.

"Tell me about you and Martenus."  Meize began.

She caught the other girl off guard.  "There's not much to tell."

"What do you mean, there's not much to tell?  One day you were simply one of Kashya's rogues, the next you're the center of his life!"

"And what does that matter to you?  Are you jealous or something!"

"Me?  Jealous?"  Meize fumed.  "Don't be ridiculous.  And it matters to me because he's my friend and my teammate."

"But _my _feelings are none of your business."

"They are too now that you're with us!"  Meize took a deep breath, trying to calm herself.  "Maybe discussing personal things isn't a good idea when we're so stressed out."

"No, it's fine.  You're right.  You have a right to know."  She sighed.  "I've loved him pretty much from the moment he strolled into our camp.  There was something about him that I found so very compelling that I couldn't stop thinking about him.  But he didn't know me from any of the other girls.  He was too obsessed with his quests to even notice me.  And then you came along.  I was so envious.  I would have given anything to be with him in battle as you were."

"Trust me, those first couple of weeks were torture.  They abandoned me every chance they got.  I can't count the number of times I nearly died thanks to them."

Annor smiled sadly.

"Go on."  Meize encouraged.

"I have to be honest, my jealousy of you grew when I saw the way he started looking at you…" she paused.  "I know the only reason he gave up his attentions on you was because you were more attracted to Thane…"

"But I'm not…"

"…but it doesn't matter in the end.  When he finally noticed me, he knew it was love at first sight too.  It was like lightning struck between us, and then you and Thane were the last thing on his mind."

"But Thane and I aren't…"

"Do I pass your approval now?"

Meize paused, caught off guard.  "You've always had my approval.  You won it the day you stood up to Martenus at the waypoint and joined us."

"I'm glad.  I'm happy to have your friendship."

"And I yours."

"Well," Annor adjusted her sore bottom on the hard floor, "now it's your turn to spill.  What's the story with you and Thane?"

The sorceress blushed madly.  "There is no story.  We're just friends."

"Oh, please.  We all see the way you look at each other."

"I'm serious!  There's nothing between us."

Annor regarded her for a moment.  "Don't you see that man is head over heels for you?  And you can't deny you want him too."

"I will admit, at times there seems to be a mutual attraction…"

"But?"

"But just when I think something is about to happen between us, he backs off."

"Ah."

"He backs off or we're interrupted, and the moment passes."

"Then next time don't let the moment pass.  Don't be afraid to make the first move yourself."

"But will there be a next time?  I'm beginning to despair that we will never leave this place."

"They'll come.  They know we're here somewhere.  They'll come."

With that, they lapsed into silence. Neither felt like continuing with idle chitchat anymore.  Meize warmed the stones again, and they fell asleep against one another.

They slept for a while, then they took turns pacing about the little room, trying to get their blood circulating again.  They were hungry and irritated, and they agreed to keep conversation to a minimum to avoid sparking any kind of argument.  Hours passed by, and the monsters outside the door wouldn't leave.

They debated the merits of just staying in the room versus making another run for the waypoint, but without knowing just how many creatures were waiting for them outside that door, they were stuck.  Even just opening the door could break the fragile truce that had stopped the demons from smashing it down earlier.

So they waited.

"Do you hear that?"  Annor whispered, rushing to place her ear against the door.  "I swear I heard something."

"You've said that _how many_ times now?"

"No, really.  This time I hear something."

And then Meize heard it too.  Their guards were scrambling about outside.  Then there was the distinctive ring of steel against steel.

"Martenus?"  Annor yelled through the closed door.

"Annor?"  His voice faintly echoed back.  "Hang on, we're coming."

And the sound of battle grew closer and closer until finally it was right outside their door.  It raged on for several long minutes until finally the door smashed into the crate.  Another hit sent both the door and the crate flying.

And there they were, standing in the doorway.

Annor rushed into Martenus' arms and they kissed each other over and over.

Meize was nearly paralyzed with nauseous fear, wanting desperately to run to Thane the same way, but painfully afraid to do so.  She found herself backed up against the far wall, tears streaming down her cheeks.

He stepped past the other couple and strode right up to her, bracing his hands against the wall on either side of her.  "Don't ever do that to me again."  He softly said.  Then he pulled her into his arms and he kissed her.

And she kissed him back with everything she had.


	11. Countdown

They took a town portal back to the rogue camp, the men having already found the waypoint in their search for their loves.  It was already morning, but getting on with the day was on none of their minds.  Martenus followed Annor to her private tent, leaving Thane and Meize with their shared tent all to themselves.

And, exhausted as they were, they first took full advantage of the privacy.

A scratching on the canvas woke them a short time later.  It was Martenus and Annor come bearing a late lunch for all of them.  Thane and Meize quickly dressed then welcomed the others in.

Annor pulled the sorceress aside.  "I see things have made an epic change for the better."

"I couldn't be more happy," was all Meize was able to reply before the men drew them into their own conversation.

"Annor and I were thinking," Martenus began as they sat down to share their meal, "that we should just relax the rest of today, get a good night's sleep tonight, and then head back in for the final leg tomorrow."

"I'm sure that's perfectly acceptable."  Thane turned to Meize for her approval.  "I don't think there's any tactical advantage to going in now instead of tomorrow."

"We need to come up with a game plan for facing Andariel.  We know her main attack is poison, and we've reserved charms, amulets, and the like to defend against it.  She's also going to have a small army down there defending her.

If Thane has as many minions as he can control up and running, Meize uses her best carpeting attacks to support them, Annor picks off clean shots to defend my back while I run in to hack and slash with Thorns cast… and then we concentrate our efforts on Andariel… we should win."

"And make sure we all have at least a couple of town portal scrolls on hand."  Thane playfully scowled at Meize.  "If we get separated, we go back to town and wait.  No more barricading ourselves in remote corners of the catacombs.  Understand?"

"Trust me," she swore to him, left hand in the air, right hand on her heart, "you'll never catch me without a scroll again."

"And you, too."  Martenus pointed his knife at Annor.

"Anything for you, my love."  And she stuck her tongue out at him, which he promptly tried to bite off.

They finished eating, and then the couples retired back to their own privacies.  Meize set up a hot bath and had no troubles convincing Thane to join her.  They lovingly scrubbed each other from head to toe, then simply relaxed in the soothing, aromatic bubbles.

Meize eventually teleported the bathtub out of the tent, but the lovers didn't rejoin the rest of the camp again that evening.

-------------- 

They arrived back in the catacombs again early the next morning.  The men knew where they were going to find the stairs to the third level, and they made it there quickly and with little difficulty.  The third level was another tortuous maze, but the gods were smiling on them this time when they found the stairs down to the final level within an hour.

They descended and knew they had arrived somewhere important now.  The stairs came out into a grand room.  Tattered tapestries still hung on the walls, candles dimly flickered in ornate holders, and a rug of once priceless beauty, now caked in centuries of blood, lay before a dead hearth.  The room was completely empty, but the feeling of foreboding weighed heavily on them.

There was a door near the other end of the room, and they slowly opened it.  They were relieved that this still wasn't Andariel's throne room, but it was occupied by a hoard that guarded a large set of double doors—doors that would surely lead to Andariel.

They were all afraid, and the room was cleaned out far too quickly.  They wasted several minutes procrastinating the opening of the doors, but eventually it had to be done.  Thane's skeleton mages crashed through and began firing at everything that moved.  They cleared out a wide berth around the doors, but they also attracted the demon queen herself.

Andariel rushed at the heroes, spewing her poisonous breath and swinging wildly with her taloned hands.  Thane's skeletons, their first line of defense, were helpless against her.  His golem took a better beating, but it too quickly succumbed.  

Meize and Annor had mercilessly bombarded her from afar, and their attacks were starting to show, but they suddenly had to defend themselves against an insistent group of Dark Ones and zombies that had come charging out of the shadows to defend their queen.

Martenus stepped in where the skeleton minions had failed in their physical attack on her, while Thane snuck around behind and lured her attention away so that the paladin could find an opening.

It was a gruesome battle taking every ounce of their might, but finally, with a last swipe of Martenus' sword, Andariel died.  He dropped to the floor in exhaustion as her body vanished, taking all of her evil magic with her.  With great effort he summoned his Prayer aura, and then collapsed into himself.  Annor limped over and fell beside him.

Gaining strength from the reflection of his aura and knowing they would be okay, Meize began to look at the mess around her.  There was a small pile of treasure where Andariel had last stood.  She smiled to herself, surprised Thane hadn't pocketed it all already.  And that left her wondering where he was.

"Thane?"  She called.  There was no answer.  Had he gone back to the camp ahead of them?  She began to pick her way through the debris looking for a sign of him.  Nothing moved.  She began to worry as she spotted one after another of his skeletons in shattered piles.

Finally, on the floor behind Andariel's throne, she found him.  He was stretched out on his back, his pale complexion sickeningly sallow, sweat pouring off his brow.  She dropped to her knees beside him and grabbed his hand.

He smiled at her weakly.  "Poison.  Too much."

"Do you have a healing potion left?"  She wiped his damp hair away from his brow with her free hand.

"Used it."

Tears started to form as she realized she didn't have a potion left either.  "We have to get you over to Martenus.  He's cast his Prayer aura."

He gently squeezed her hand.  "Too late."

"No it's not."  She pulled at him.  "Get up.  We can make it.  You'll be fine."

"Just leave me.  It'll be all right.  I promise."  He closed his eyes, his breathing suddenly becoming very shallow.

"No!  I won't leave you!"  She pounded on his chest, frantic.  "There's still time!"

"Go back… to the camp."

"I'm not going to let you die!"  She cried.

"It's okay… trust me."  He turned his face away from her.

"No!  You can't die!"  She pleaded.  "I love you!"

"Don't let… them take… my stuff.  Still need… it…"  And he simply died.

Sobbing, Meize clutched his still body to her breast, rocking back and forth, lost in her despair.

This was how Martenus found her a short time later.  Too shocked and too fatigued for emotion, he simply sat down behind her, resting his cheek against her back, and swayed with her.  Annor came and sat down next to him, resting her head in his lap.  They stayed that way for an unknown length of time, too numb to move.  Meize eventually fell into an exhausted stupor.  Martenus loosened Thane's body from her arms and helped her to her feet, guiding her into the portal back to the camp.  He sent the rogues back to retrieve the body for a proper burial, then continued straight to their tent where he helped Meize lie down and then collapsed next to her.  Annor, not wanting to be alone in her own tent, curled up on the other side of the numb sorceress.


	12. The First Ending

"…exhausted.  Let her sleep."  Martenus' voice outside the tent woke her.  "She doesn't know what really happened and took it very hard."

She heard another male voice mumble a reply.

_Goddess_, she thought to herself, _I want so desperately for Thane to be alive, I'm hearing his voice.  It was probably just Cain._

Annor's voice then said, "Just wait.  Trust me."

Meize opened her tear-swollen eyes and looked around the tent.  There was his stuff, still untouched in its corner.  Someone had thought to take off her own armor, but then had cruelly placed it next to his spare set.  She couldn't help but start to cry again as she saw the breastplates gently touching each other.

She cringed from the sudden blinding sunlight as someone pulled back the flap and entered the tent.  It was Annor.  She was carrying a pitcher of fresh water and some towels.

"I thought I heard you awake."  She sat down with the water and towels next to Meize, then proceeded to wet one and wash the sorceress' face.

"Please," Meize gently pushed her hand away, "just leave me be."

Annor paused only a moment then continued her ministrations.  "Oh, Meize.  I know you've been through a terrible ordeal, but there is business at hand that can't be delayed.  Let's get you cleaned up and feeling a little better."

"I don't want to feel better.  I just want to be left alone."

"There will be time you need for mourning later.  But this cannot be left undone."

Meize allowed Annor to finish bathing her, then took the offered hand when it was time to go outside.

How she dreaded facing everyone and their sympathy.

The rogue pulled back the flap and said, "He's waiting for you."

Meize looked out towards the fire… and Thane was standing there waiting for her.

"Oh, Goddess…"  She ran to his open arms, unable to contain her joy.

He held her tight for a long moment, kissing her forehead and her hair over and over.

"How, oh, how…"  She was so afraid to let go, so afraid he would disappear.

"See, I told you it would be all right.  Akara told me, when you almost died from that arrow, that we were cursed with immortality until our quest was finally finished.  We can't die."

"But… you died after we killed Andariel… Aren't we done now?"

"I'm afraid we've barely started, my dear heart.  We have a long journey ahead of us."  He kissed her tenderly.  "How about a vacation in the desert?"

Martenus leaned in, "As Warriv keeps telling us, 'the caravan is prepared.'"

She smiled at them both.  "And exactly what awaits us there?"

The paladin began ticking off his fingers.  "Apparently snakes, vultures, mummies, locusts, worms, beetles…"

"Forget I asked!"  She laughed.

Thane hugged her tightly to him again.  "Shall we start packing?"

"I'm not ready to go… quite yet."  She finished with a playful flick of lashes.

The necromancer swooped her up in his arms.  "Sorry, Martenus, but you're sleeping somewhere else tonight."

The paladin slid his arm around Annor's waist.  "That won't be a problem."

Cheers followed Thane and Meize as they disappeared into their tent.


	13. Another Word From Our Sponsors

What happens next with our questing heroes?

A vacation in the desert turns into an eventful honeymoon in the jungle for both sets of our lovers.  They make short work of the council and Mephisto so that they can get back to celebrating.

A very hormonal, pregnant sorceress proves to be Diablo's toughest opponent yet as she hands his ass to him and then goes searching hell for ice cream, dragging a frightened Annor along with her.  (Thane begins to wonder just what kind of being he may have spawned…  Martenus swears he's never having children of his own.)  And poor old Baal faces a VERY pregnant, very pissed off sorceress who desperately needs to use his bathroom.

Nightmare sees Cain boning up on his babysitting skills, and Mephisto, Diablo, and Baal face two lovely ladies that just want to kill them and see what they drop so they can trade it in and go shopping (for stuff for the baby… of course…).

Hell sees both Meize and Annor pregnant (crap!), looking for ice cream…

"And pickles!"

…and pickles throughout hell.  The Three Brothers just give up, give them the ice cream, pickles, roast chicken, and everything else the girls asked for just to get them off their backs, promising to serve the light if they never have to face these two again.

And they all lived happily ever after.

----------

A few years later…

"Daddy, I want to be a paladin just like Uncle Martenus!"

"WHAT?"

"But paladins are so cool with their swords and their auras…"

"But raising skeletons and exploding corpses is way cooler!"

"No way, Dad.  That's so lame."

"ARE YOU CALLING ME LAME?!"

----- "Honey, let your son out of the bone cage…"

"Could at least want to be a druid…"

----- "…tell one of your golems to mow the lawn…"

"Summon wolves or something…"

----- "…send in one of the skeletons to start making dinner…"

"Carrion vine would be nice…"

----- "…and then help your daughter with her flaming skull attack* project."

"HEY!  Who's the one that controls the minions around here?!"

----- "Me.  Now start vacuuming!"

*Well, she _is_ a sorceress-necromancer cross breed… 

--------------

This was my original ending.  I had never intended to write beyond Act I, but inspiration bit, and I've started writing Act II.  The plot outline has been drafted, and now I just have to write the story.

Watch for **Chapter 14 – Here We Go Again – Begin Act II** to appear later this fall.

Disclaimer:  Diablo II is the property of Blizzard Entertainment.  What of my story doesn't belong to them, belongs to me.


	14. Here We Go Again Act II

It had been a long journey from the rogue camp through to Lut Gholein.  Theirs was the first caravan through to the desert city since Andariel had closed the gates in the monastery, and it was very large and traveled very slowly.  The adventurers alternated between riding in the wagon, bored to tears watching the world roll by, and walking along side as it gradually progressed down the disused road.  The most excitement they encountered was occasionally clearing away monsters and demons that had ranged far and wide from the centers of evil where they had spawned.

But, they were finally here.  The caravan was ushered into the safety of the city's walls, and they unloaded in the town square.  The prince of the city, a tall, Arabic-looking man named Jerhyn, welcomed Cain as he stepped off his wagon.  Cain then introduced Jerhyn to his young heroes.  The prince immediately set them up in a good hotel room—unfortunately just one, much to their chagrin, as there was nothing else to be had in town with the country folk from the surrounding area seeking the security of the guarded city.

They settled in, dressed for the evening, and went downstairs and out down the street to the tavern for dinner.  They were barely seated when the tavern's owner pushed her waiter aside and introduced herself to them.  Atma, her name was, and she immediately laid her problem out to them.

She asked them to go into the sewers to kill a beast named Radament and avenge the deaths of her husband and son.  They reassured the woman, agreeing to look into her problem first thing in the morning, then they gave her their orders for their first real meals after a fortnight of travel rations.

"No rest for the righteous."  Martenus grumbled.  "She could have at least plied us with a nice dinner _first_.  A little bribery can go a long way."

Annor playfully punched him in the shoulder.  "Be nice.  She must have been desperate to have asked us on the spot like that."

"But we've only been in town an hour!  I just want to sit down in a real chair, eat a hot meal, and drink my fill of good ale.  I don't want to worry about monsters already."

"How about you drink, and I'll worry about the monsters for you."  She soothed him.

And they happily chatted about anything but their duties until their food arrived.  Real meat was such a treat after the dried jerky and stringy rabbit stew they'd lived off of on the caravan, and they savored every bite of the succulent roast.

They settled their bill then decided on an evening stroll through the town.  Arm in arm, the two couples strolled along the streets.  The city was quiet, for a port town.  Even the nighttime trade workers were restrained, as if they were trying to keep a low profile while still trying to lure customers.  It was an odd feeling.

The four adventurers stopped when they reached the docks and just stood there and watched the ships lazily bob on the dark water.  Thane put his arms around Meize and pulled her close when she shivered with the chill coming off the water.  He nibbled her ear, sending tingles down to her toes.  She didn't need to look to know Martenus and Annor were also thusly occupied with one another in the soft torchlight.

A woman's scream shattered the quiet.

Startled, the four ran towards the commotion further up one of the side streets.  The sight there brought them to a halt.  Annor buried her face in Martenus shoulder, and Meize clutched tightly to Thane, horrified.  A man and woman lay dead in the road, an axe still embedded in the woman's skull, the man's intestines dragged out across the cobblestones.

Jerhyn and a few of his guards came racing over from the direction of the palace.  Another, large man came racing in from a different direction with other guards behind him.

"I'll look after this, your highness."  The second man growled.  "Go back to your palace."

"Do not try me, Griez.  You and your mercenaries may be in charge of policing the city, but you still answer to me in the end."

Jerhyn directed his focus to Thane and Martenus.  "You see now what we face.  Death stalks us at every turn, both without and within our walls.  Radament's monsters coming up from the sewers, no doubt, did this."

Weeping townsfolk, at Jerhyn's approval, gathered up the bodies to take to the cathedral to prepare them for interment.

"If you can kill that mummy below and then find the dark wanderer and rid our lands of this evil, our gratitude would be immeasurable."  And he turned to return to the palace.

The four silently retreated to their hotel room and retired for the night.  The next day would require an early start, as they would begin their hunt through the sewers for Radament.

And thus was their welcome to Lut Gholein.

-----------

"Oh, that is so gross."  Annor shuddered as something big and dead floated past in the water.  "I'm never going to get the stench of this place out of my skin."

The sewers were as bad as the monastery had been for randomness.  Tunnels just went off in each and every direction, turning back on themselves and coming to dead ends.  But the thing that they "enjoyed" most about the sewers were the legions of zombies that spewed toxic clouds when they died.  That was a great twist to an old classic.

They were finally now on the third level.  They were tired, hungry, slimy, and smelly; and they couldn't work their way to Radament fast enough.

At last they found him.  Thane expertly exploded or resurrected the corpses of Radament's minions as fast as the others could kill them, shortly leaving the mummy with no guard to defend himself.  They made quick work of him, collected the items from his corpse and the treasure chest in the corner, then used a town portal to return to the surface.

As they were going through the items with Cain, including three moldy tomes and an ancient scroll, Atma came running up to them.

"Thank you for avenging my family.  This is a debt I can never repay.  Please be my guest at my tavern during your stay in our city.  I would be happy to cover the costs of all your meals.  I know it's not much, but it's all I can afford to give you in token of my gratitude."

Martenus put his hand comfortingly on the woman's shoulder.  "We thank you for your generosity.  It is a great relief to us to know we will always have food in our stomachs while we are here."

"I will keep that table reserved for you at all times."  And she turned and hurried back to her tavern.  Her sobs echoed back to the others.

"Poor woman.  I hope she can finally find peace now."  Meize quietly said, and Thane put his arm around her comfortingly.

"Here is what the scroll says," Cain excitedly interrupted.  "There is a an ancient weapon known as the Horadric Staff.  It was created by the ancient Horadric mages who bound Baal within Tal Rasha, then sealed off his burial chamber from the mortal world.  After the staff was nearly lost to an evil sorcerer, it was split into two pieces.  The shaft and the headpiece were hidden out in the desert, separately.  There is a magic item known as the Horadric Cube that can reunite the pieces.  When assembled, the staff can then open the tomb where Tal Rasha, and thus Baal, has been sealed."  He looked up from the scroll.  "Time is of the essence.  You must get there and ensure Baal is not released by the Dark Wanderer."

"Where is the tomb?"  Martenus asked, peering over Cain's shoulder at the scroll and making no sense of the ancient script.

"I am uncertain yet where it is, but first you must go out into the desert and find the pieces of the staff and the Horadric Cube."

"And just where in the desert do we find those?"  Thane sighed.

"According to the scroll, they will reveal themselves to you.  You are worthy of this quest, and they will call you to them.  In the meantime, I will continue to work on the rest of the translations and see if I can find the location of the tomb."

"What about the books?"  Martenus picked up one of the moldy tomes.

"These appear to be spell books.  There is one for a sorceress, a necromancer, and a paladin."  He handed them the appropriate books.  "I think if you take a moment to study them, you'll find them quite useful."

Martenus pulled Cain aside while the others admired the volumes.  "Nothing for Annor?"  He quietly asked, hoping his lady's feelings weren't hurt.

"I am sorry my friend.  The rogues have some basic magic, but nothing that can rival their Amazon sisters.  Annor will always be strong with her bow, her fire arrow, and her inner sight, but she cannot develop any more magical ability than that.  Just make sure she always has the best weapon she can handle, and she'll be content as a contributing member of the team.  Her marksmanship is just as important as your magic."

"Thank you."  Martenus returned, thumping Cain solidly on the back.

Cain smiled, then began to shoo them away.  "Now I can't stand the smell of the lot of you.  Take a cue and go bathe."

After they had all washed and dressed, they went back to Atma's for dinner.  She served them a generous feast of roast pork, lamb stew, spicy potatoes, wilted greens, buns, cheeses, and fresh fruit.  And she topped it all off with a never-ending supply of her best ale.  Thane and Martenus managed to put away an impressive amount of food and alcohol before they finally had to surrender and push their plates away from themselves, nursing one last pint.  Annor was ready to start dancing on the table after her first tankard, but of course she didn't stop there, and Meize had her head resting against Thane's shoulder by the end of her second.

"We should really," Martenus paused to let out a mighty, drunken belch, rousing Meize from her slumber, "plan ssomething for tomorrow."  He stopped, thinking hard about where his wagon of thought was going.  _Wagons are funny._  "Asss leader of thiss group…"

"Heyyy…"  Thane interjected, then slurred, "who ssaysss you're the leader."

Annor started into a fit of giggling, supposedly at the two men though it could have been at anything in the room, followed shortly by a round of hiccoughs.

"I'm the pallladin," he began to waver dangerously in his seat, "I'm sse leader."

"What?"  Thane complained.  "I'm sse leader, not'ou."

Annor, still consumed by giggles and hiccoughs, crawled under the table.

"Pallladin iss alwayss 'e leader."  And Martenus' head hit the table with a crash.

"Hah.  We ssettle thiss tomorrow when yer ssober."  Thane looked around at his comatose companions.  "Oh crap.  Gonna have… rough day… tomorrow."  And his head fell back and he began to snore very loudly.

They awoke in a tangled pile in the middle of their hotel room floor.  Meize was the first one to open her eyes, and as soon as she moved, she disturbed the others.  They all slowly started sitting up, and promptly turned green.  Martenus made a run for the men's privy, Annor for the lady's privy, and Thane for the potted plant.

Meize surprisingly felt okay.  She had a touch of a headache, nothing more.  She stretched out her sore muscles from sleeping in a cramped position on the floor, then began to wash herself off from the basin in their room.

The others eventually returned, very careful not to make any excessive noise or movement.  Annor went straight to her bed, crawled in, and pulled the blankets over her head.  Martenus dropped to the mattress, threw his arm over the lump that was Annor, and promptly started snoring.  Thane walked over to Meize, took the wet cloth from her hand, and began to wash the back of her neck.

"How are you feeling, my love?"  She quietly asked him.

"Like I've been hit with a hay cart."  He sighed.  "How about you?"

"I'm fine, actually.  Drinking always puts me to sleep fast, so I'm usually never hung over."

"Count your blessings."  He began to wash off his own face.  "We've got to get up and going, unfortunately.  We have to get those pieces of the staff."

"What about those two?"  She jerked her chin towards the slumbering paladin and rogue.

"This isn't going to be pretty."  Thane jerked open the curtains, crying out in agony himself, then prodded at Martenus and Annor until he could finally drag them out of bed.

They all slowly donned their armor, then stumbled out of the hotel into the early morning sunshine.

They stopped by to see Cain one last time for any further information before they left the city.  The mage was quite disgusted with his young heroes, telling them they were bigger idiots than the town drunk, Geglash.  He sent them to Lysander, the potion master, for a restorative tonic.

Lysander charged them an arm and a leg in gold for his tonic, but at least it worked.  Within ten minutes they were cheerfully stepping through the city gates.


End file.
